Earlier this year CCP brought Abyssal Deadspace zones into the mix: part of an increasingly popular MMO trend to provide randomized and rewarding instanced content into the fold. They seem to be pretty happy with how it turned out, as they’ve just announced a full expansion of the system in the form of “Abyssal Deadspace 2.0” live at Eve Vegas.
In addition to things like new ships and structures, Abyssal Deadspace will now provide a co-op angle, something initially promised this year that fans have been looking forward to for months. Additional difficulties are baked in to accommodate the higher player count, as well as another unique twist: at the end you can battle it out against another player, PVP-style. As part of a broader focus for the upcoming winter update Upwell Navigation Structures are being expanded a bit for easier traveling and an Activity Tracker mechanic will assist players in finding things to do.
Right now it seems like things are business as usual for CCP despite being acquired by Korean publisher Pearl Abyss several months ago. According to their CEO Hilmar Pétursson CCP is allowed to work as an independent studio under this arrangement and EVE‘s development will not be heavily impacted by the shakeup.
Source: Destructoid EVE Online is hosting a massive winter update with an expanded focus on its instanced content system